VCs deploy ‘kingmaking’ strategy to crown AI winners in their infancy
While VCs have long used big investments to spur category winners, they are taking this strategy to new extremes.
The Download: how AI is used for military targeting, and the Pentagon’s war on Claude
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Defense official reveals how AI chatbots could be used for targeting decisions The US military might use generative AI systems to rank targets and recommend which to strike first, according to a Defense Department…
San Francisco Is Suing Processed Food Giants Including Coca-Cola, Nestle and Kraft. Here’s Why.
The first-of-its-kind lawsuit accuses major manufacturers of knowingly making and marketing harmful foods and beverages.
‘End-to-end encrypted’ smart toilet camera is not actually end-to-end encrypted
Kohler, the makers of a smart toilet camera, can access customers’ data stored on its servers, and can use customers’ bowl pictures to train AI.
Company backed by Donald Trump Jr.’s firm nabs $620M government contract
Vulcan Elements, a rare earths startup has secured a $620 million contract from the U.S .defense department.
Stop Fearing Disruption. Here’s How to Turn It Into Your Greatest Advantage.
A leader’s greatest advantage comes from seeing disruption not as disorder but as the starting point for reinvention.
Inside the Dorm-Room Startup Fueling the $1.6 Billion NIL Gold Rush
Here’s how Blake Lawrence built Opendorse, streamlining NIL deals for 100,000+ college athletes.
The Era of Blockchain Hype Is Over — Execution Is What Will Drive Adoption
Blockchain is shifting from speculation to execution, with adoption driven by practical infrastructure.
Tonight, the future of deep tech will be explained to you at StrictlyVC Palo Alto
On Wednesday evening at Playground Global in Palo Alto, some very smart people who are building things you don’t understand yet will explain what’s coming. This is the final StrictlyVC event of 2025, and truly, the lineup is ridiculous.
Fintech firm Marquis alerts dozens of US banks and credit unions of a data breach after ransomware attack
Marquis said ransomware hackers stole reams of banking customer data, containing personal information and financial records, as well as Social Security numbers, belonging to hundreds of thousands of people. The number of affected people is expected to rise.
OpenAI has trained its LLM to confess to bad behavior
OpenAI is testing another new way to expose the complicated processes at work inside large language models. Researchers at the company can make an LLM produce what they call a confession, in which the model explains how it carried out a task and (most of the time) owns up to any bad behavior. Figuring out…